Fighting for Euskera: The Role of Language in Basque Nationalism and the Development of the ETA

By Keely L. Smith - Basque nationalism is a movement that has encompassed myth, mystery, violence, and compromise, all of which have found their justification from the unique language, Euskera. The source of Euskera is uncertain due to its non-Indo-European origin, although there is evidence that it belongs “to the same agglutinative type of speech as do Santali, Mundari, Kurku, and other dialects of the Munda or Kolarian family of Bengal.”[1] This differentiation, though it gives little explanation as to the location of its foundations, does suggest that the Basques “are the descendants of indigenous...